


Jack Manifold Just Couldn't Win

by CaptainBrookeworm



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Temporary Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm manifesting Jack and Tommy being friends, Jack Manifold-centric, Jack and Tommy are the only ones IN it and everyone else is just mentioned, Past Character Death, Rating for Cursing, TommyInnit Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), big innit hotel, but he gets free food so he still wins, but will not get one because resurrection, head canon that revived characters have a white streak in their hair, if Tommy was capable of talking about his emotions and Jack got over himself basically, jack manifold and Tommy sit down and talk, no romantic relationships, since canon is determined to keep protective revivebur from me, smp characters not actual ccs, so a bit ooc lmao, was supposed to be a theory type thing but canon yeeted it so it's an au now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 18:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30043044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainBrookeworm/pseuds/CaptainBrookeworm
Summary: "Jack Manifold just couldn’t win.He already had mixed feelings about Tommy dying in the first place, and now he was alive. Calling him into work like nothing happened. What. The. Hell. He should’ve burned down the stupid hotel when he had the chance."-Or: Jack and Tommy sit down and talk, but Jack still wants to kill him. Really. He does. He's going to kill TommyInnit, no matter how alike they might be now. He's going to do it. Definitely.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Jack Manifold & TommyInnit
Comments: 8
Kudos: 222





	Jack Manifold Just Couldn't Win

**Author's Note:**

> So canon yeeted my "possible Tommy and Jack friendship" theory thing but I already spent a week being a perfectionist about it so I'm posting it anyway.
> 
> Let Jack and Tommy be friends canon! I love team rocket Jack, but he's such platonic tsundere. Just admit you want to be friends with Tommy again you walnut.

Jack Manifold just couldn’t win. 

He already had mixed feelings about Tommy dying in the first place, and now he was  _ alive. Calling him into work _ like nothing happened. What. The. Hell. He should’ve burned down the stupid hotel when he had the chance. 

“Tommy!” he called out as he stepped through the doorway. No answer.

Great. He already didn’t want to be here. With his luck, Puffy already ratted him out for trying to steal the hotel and the kid was waiting in some dark corner to jump him. Again. Even if his entire inventory consisted of some iron armor, a few golden apples and a diamond pickaxe, he’d worked hard for them, dammit. 

“Tommy!” he called again. 

He checked in the little scam bunker Tommy had taken him to on day one of his employment. Nothing. Not even a mob. He climbed upstairs, peering through the doorways on each floor. The rooms were all similarly abandoned.

Every rung of the ladder filled him with more and more bitterness. He heaved with barely-controlled rage by the time he got to the top of the hotel. He tilted his head back and sighed heavily before throwing open the trapdoor.

He poked his head out, finally spotting Tommy sitting on the edge of the roof, knees pulled up to his chest and head buried in his arms. Oh, fuck, was he crying? Jack couldn’t tell, but he would  _ not _ be able to handle listening to Tommy cry. 

So, he pulled himself up and cleared his throat. Tommy stiffened, but didn’t look up.

When it was clear  _ he _ wasn't going to say anything, Jack said slowly, “Tommy. You… messaged me?”

Tommy made a noise of affirmation, letting the tension ease from his shoulders slightly. 

How many people knew he was alive? Sam, considering he’s the one who lied about it… Puffy might? Did Tubbo? None of them were on. He might be able to shove Tommy over the edge of the building with no one being the wiser. For some reason, the idea was fleeting. The conviction left as quickly as it came. 

Then, Tommy took a deep breath and looked up at him. Jack sucked in a breath, dread pooling in his bones. 

A mark - white like the ice around Snowchester - streaked through Tommy’s hair just above his eyes. It stood out harshly against the dull blonde of his hair (hadn’t it been more blonde, before?). Jack hoped his glasses hid the surprise on his face, and he further hoped his headphones hid the identical white streak in the stubble near his temple. 

Okay, so Sam  _ wasn’t _ lying. Tommy  _ had _ died. Somehow, Tommy had been  _ brought back from the dead. _

“Hey, Jack,” Tommy said quietly (TommyInnit never did  _ anything _ quietly), trying to force some cheer into his voice (since when did he have to  _ try _ at that?). 

“What are you doing up here?” Jack asked. His brain felt weirdly numb, as if someone poured soul sand in his ears and if he moved, it would rattle around in his head like a maraca. He was staring at the streak, he knew. He hoped Tommy couldn’t tell.

Tommy hesitated, then curled back in on himself. “I… I like to feel the wind. I wasn’t… it’s… I dunno… I know I’m not… there.” 

Oh. 

That made… too much sense. Jack remembered inhabiting a body again after just a few  _ minutes  _ in the void - even if his death only lasted a few seconds for everyone else. Every touch felt like lightning; even dull colors felt like they were burning through his eyes, not to mention light; moving always took way more effort than it did before; and every time the lights went down - even now, months later - he sunk back in that crushing darkness.

Tommy had been in there for… what? Two whole days? It must’ve felt like months to him. The red of the hotel that he’d once been so happy with probably hurt like fire. But if he closed his eyes…

So the wind helped. That made sense.

“I see,” Jack said. He tried not to think about how much meaning he put behind the words. He shouldn’t be empathizing with Tommy. Not when he was planning on killing him again. 

Well, what was he waiting for? They practically had the server to themselves. He could do it. 

Tommy said something, but it was too muffled for Jack to hear.

He took a few steps closer. “What?”

“What happened to Manifold Land?” Tommy repeated. “You can usually see it from up here, but… it’s gone.”

“Oh, right. I…” He stopped himself. Was he really gonna pour his heart out to  _ Tommy _ ? “I… It… it burned down.” 

“Wasn’t me,” Tommy said quickly, and it took Jack a second to realize he was joking.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied, a small smile flickering across his face. “It happened while you were…” He swallowed. “Y’know.” 

When neither summoned anything else to say, Jack sat down next to Tommy. His water bucket was easy to pull out quickly, so he wasn’t afraid of the kid pushing him off, and it put him in a great position to do it himself. Yeah. That was it. 

Tommy took a deep breath and lifted his head to stare across the server. Jack tore his eyes away from his hair and noticed the heavy bags under his eyes. If he’d actually been sleeping, Jack would eat his shirt. 

“I kinda called you for nothing,” Tommy said, huffing out a pained laugh. Those were definitely tears forming in his eyes. “I just didn’t want to be up here alone. Me and high places… right?”

Jack didn’t know what he meant, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. “Why me?” he said instead. “Foolish and Ponk are on too.”

Tommy looked over at him like he was stupid - not a look Jack thought he would miss.

“‘Cause we’re pals, bitch!” His voice didn’t have the same intense glee it usually did. In fact, it cracked a little as he stumbled over the insult. 

The grin faltered while Jack floundered for an answer, so Tommy continued, “B-besides. You work for me. You… you had to.”

Tommy broke the eye contact and stared resolutely forward. 

Jack looked down at his feet. Was that  _ guilt _ swirling in his stomach? It better not be. He didn’t feel bad about the nukes, or the plans to kill him. He didn’t. 

“I didn’t think you saw me as your pal.” He wanted to inject some venom into his words - Tommy had  _ not _ made that clear in the slightest - but it came out hollow.

With a quick glance, Tommy muttered, “Y-yeah.” He sighed. “I miss when it was you, me, Wilbur, Fundy, Tubbo, and Niki in L’Manberg, y’know?”

Jack’s chest seized. Despite how irrational it was, he still glanced down at his hoodie to make sure he wasn’t still wearing the L’Manberg uniform. “Same here.” 

He’d never been so lost for words before. What could he possibly say to the stupid annoying kid who just called him his friend? He  _ missed _ being friends, and here was Tommy, offering the chance to him casually, like it went without saying. 

It didn’t matter. Even if he’d always seen Jack as a friend, Tommy had done a rotten job of showing it. Abandoning him to Schlatt, killing him, making fun of him and generally being  _ annoying _ .

It didn’t matter.

“You…” Tommy swallowed thickly. “You haven’t asked how I got out.” His shoulders bunched up, like he wanted to get this conversation over with, and hated having to be the one to bring it up.

Jack hummed. “Sam told us you died.” 

Gripping his sleeves in his hands, Tommy nodded. “Yeah. Dream… he... um…”

“I know,” he interrupted. The tears wobbled dangerously, and Jack really didn’t want to see them fall. “Sam told us.” 

“We were arguing about the stupid ressurection book,” Tommy said hoarsly. “I didn’t think it was real. I thought he was fucking manipulating everyone again.”

Had… had Dream killed Tommy to  _ prove a point _ ? That was...  _ fucked _ . The instant the thought crossed his mind, Jack wanted to laugh. Who was  _ he _ to say that killing Tommy for any reason was fucked? So why did he feel like throwing up? 

“So it  _ is _ real?”

Tommy buried his head into his arms and nodded. “He wanted to do it  _ again _ . To  _ use _ me to learn about the afterlife. I hate him. Stupid motherfucking stupid green bastard with a dumb god-complex…”

Oh, shit, he was crying. Fuck, fuck, fuck. The words  _ ‘Tommy is’ _ and  _ ‘crying’ _ just did  _ not _ belong together in one sentence, unless the sentence was  _ ‘Tommy is laughing so hard, he’s crying,’  _ or _ ‘Tommy is being a dick and everyone is crying.’ _

Jack didn’t know what to say.  _ ‘There there,’  _ really didn’t cut it. 

Wait, why did he even  _ care _ ? He should be relishing in his greatest enemy sobbing in front of him. 

But he wasn’t. In fact, the only thing keeping him from wrapping an arm around Tommy’s shoulders was the certainty that it would feel like acid to him. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, Jack reached into his pocket and grabbed one of his golden apples.

“Here,” he said. Tommy glanced up over his arm, smearing tears across his sleeve.

“What?”

“It’s a gapple,” Jack stated dumbly. What was he doing? “When I… um… the… the absorption will help. With everything… y’know.”

Tommy stared at him for a long moment. Plenty of time for Jack to put the gapple away and pretend he was messing with him. Tommy reached for it slowly. Still more time to back out. He wished he would snatch it away.

Then, it was in his hands. Tommy stared at it like Jack had just given him the world.

Jack cleared his throat. “Gapps were about all I could stomach when… um… well…  _ after _ . I’d avoid potions if I were you. Most magic will feel like you injected lava directly into your bloodstream. But gapps are okay. It’ll sting for a second, but once the absorption kicks in, you’ll be fine.”

Tearing his gaze from the gap, Tommy raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

Oh. Oh, shit. Did… did he not know? Fuck, how  _ could _ he know? 

“I…” He cleared his throat. Though he’d told people about it before, Jack was pretty sure no one really believed him. He’d never treated it with any sort of weight because no one else would get it. It felt weird to be so serious about it. “Technoblade killed me during Doomsday. Took my last life.” 

Tommy’s eyes widened. “How did you get back?”

Normally, it was something cool. He was the only one on the server to come back to life and, even now, the only one to do it without help. But he didn’t want to brag about it anymore. Trying to play it down now felt a lot like lying.

Jack shrugged. “I… I’m not sure. I was pretty pissed. I… wanted to get back at him... and Dream… it kinda felt like… I dunno… swimming with a bunch of magma blocks below me. Just… clawed my way back to the surface and woke up on the prime path.”

Humming his agreement, Tommy said, “It felt like a shredder to me.”

“Guess it’s different for everyone.” 

Tommy let out a long, shaky breath and took a bite out of the gapple. He flinched as the taste hit his tongue, but relaxed as the scarlet magic swirled around him. More relaxed then he’d been for the whole conversation. 

“Thanks, Jack.” 

Jack didn’t trust his voice, so he nodded.

What was he doing? He’s sitting on the roof of a building he tried to steal from the kid he’d tried to kill. But the anger that had been easy to spark before just… wouldn’t. 

If Tommy died… Jack would be alone all over again. It would hurt way more.  _ Way _ more. Why? Why did the idea fill his stomach with lead bricks of dread? What about Tommy  _ now _ made the thought...

...Shit.

Tommy was the only one who understood. 

Tommy was the only other person who felt the crushing darkness. The only other person who felt their molecules getting reassembled. The only other person who had to pretend everything was fine, that  _ he _ was fine, and that he  _ didn’t _ feel like a stranger in his own skin.

Tommy was still an annoying little shit. He was still part of the reason Jack died at all. Still part of the reason L’Manberg got blown to hell. 

But...

“A lot of people were really upset when they found out,” Jack offered.

Tommy perked up. “Really? Who?”

“Sam and Puffy were a wreck. Ranboo and Tubbo hung in denial for a bit, but I heard Ranboo kind of lost it at Sam. He planted the flowers around your house too. Quackity… he… I was the one to tell him. He almost cried on me. Foolish, Eret, and Puffy all made those statues of you.” 

A small smile came to his face as Tommy glanced down at the caricatures littering his front lawn. “I… I didn’t realize people cared.”

Jack sighed. “People care. They’re just not great at showing it.”

“I guess I’m not either.” Tommy huffed out a laugh.

Inaudibly, Jack muttered, “Tell me about it.”

Tommy stood, dramatically brushing himself off. “Well, I guess I should start now. Thank ‘em and shit. Let ‘em know I’m still alive and kicking.”

Despite himself, Jack’s mouth quirked into a smile. “Careful. Puffy might hug the life right back outta ya.”

Snorting, Tommy turned towards the trapdoor.

Jack didn’t watch him go. Instead, he looked out over the SMP. He wondered distantly how Ant, Bad, and Punz were going to react to Tommy being back. Ant acted weirdly giddy at the news of his death. Sam Nook had mentioned they threw a party  _ in _ the hotel the same day. Puffy would take care of it, probably. She’d go full mama bear on them. Hell, he’d have to be careful of her going full mama bear on  _ him _ .

The sound of a throat clearing shook him out of his thoughts. Glancing up, he realized Tommy hadn’t left.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot. “You… you coming?” His voice shook a little. It was less a question, more an admission. He didn’t want to be alone. 

On this godforsaken server, Jack knew things rarely worked out. Things almost never turned out for the best, especially for him. But hell, what was the harm in trying, then? Worst case, he’s right. Best case… 

He stood, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Sure.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! This is my first real fic so let me know what you thought! :D
> 
> I'm an artist, and I've been doing a lot of dsmp stuff so find me here:
> 
> [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNLSY1dOiJ0IBrj1fvXI5g)  
> [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/captain_brookeworm/)  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/CBrookeworm)  
> [DeviantArt](https://www.deviantart.com/captainbrookeworm)


End file.
